One of the common questions I’m asked as a personal trainer is “will I get bulky if I lift weights?” It’s a worry that a lot of women have, but I’m writing this article to reassure you that no, you won’t turn into a bulky freak with lifting weights – in fact the opposite will happen!
Lifting weights will help you to drop body fat, develop a strong but slim figure and benefit other aspects of your health too.
Hormonally, us women just aren’t set up for huge amounts of muscle. The key hormone in the muscle building process is testosterone, but women don’t produce enough of it to add massive amounts of muscle to our bodies. Of course it’s possible to build muscle tissue, but to create a big, bulky physique would take years of hard work dedicated purely to adding muscle – most of us aren’t going to do that so it’s not a worry!
For the vast majority of us, we’ll build some muscle, but nothing extreme, just a strong and athletic figure, with a whole load of health benefits that come with weight training!
There’s more than just aesthetic benefits…
Whilst for a lot of women the reason they want to exercise is to look a certain way, we’d be silly to ignore the other benefits associated with weight training…
Injury Prevention and Cure
When we lift weights we strengthen more than just our muscles. We also strengthen our bones, our ligaments and our tendons. This makes us less susceptible to injury, so if you’ve suffered from injuries in the past, it can help you recover from them and also prevent them in future. Whether they’re sports injuries, accidents or even something as simple as poor posture, it helps to be stronger.
Strengthening Bones
What is particularly important for women is strengthening the bones. It’s known that bone density drops in women as we age, particularly around the menopause. By lifting weights we improve bone density and make them stronger and far less likely to develop osteoporosis, which can have serious consequences.
Weight Training Improves Energy Levels
Energy levels are seriously boosted by lifting weights! There’s lots of different types of weight training, from heavy weights training for pure strength, to circuits-based weight training for burning fat and improving your cardio fitness. By focussing on the latter, you can get many of the same benefits of running without the injury risk and by making a workout much more varied and interesting than pounding pavements! After a long day at work, even a short weight training session will help to energise you!
Calorie Burning
A lot of people wouldn’t automatically think of weight training as a great calorie burner, but done properly it’s an excellent way to burn a whole load of calories. By keeping your rest periods short and your training intensity high, a good weigh training session can easily burn as many calories as a tough exercise class.
I’ve Never Lifted Weights Before…
Not a problem! I bring all of the equipment to you and will teach you everything – from the precise technique of every exercise we’ll do right through to selecting the correct weight. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never touched a dumbbell in your life, with my personal training expertise I’ll make sure your weight training is both safe and effective.
The fantastic thing about weight training is that there’s something for everyone – from basic moves right the way through to complex supersets, you’ll never stop benefitting from training with weights. There’s always a new exercise, new rep range, additional weight or new combination to try. You’ll never get bored and you’ll never outgrow this way of training!
When Will I See Results?
Very quickly! You’ll notice your strength increasing within a couple of weeks. If I’m helping you with your diet as well you’ll start to see the weight drop from the first week (as long as you stick to the plan!)
Within a few months you’ll be significantly stronger, significantly fitter and will feel fantastic!
Sounds great! How do I get started?
Excellent! All you need to do is get in touch via
Phone - 07495042852
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/hilaryhealthfitness/
Website - www.hilaryshealthandfitness.co.uk
and we’ll arrange a day and time to suit. I bring the kit with me so you won’t need to do anything. If you have your own kit, we can use that too!
I cover the Bristol area with my mobile personal training services.
Locally - Portishead, Clevedon, Nailsea and surrounding area.
See you soon!
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